1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to the field of computers, and more particularly to the use of computers utilized by call contact centers. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to establishing a secure channel between a call contact center and a caller.
2. Description of the Related Art
Contact centers are a central point in an enterprise from which customer contacts are managed. These customer contacts are usually telephone calls requesting service, such as technical service support for products bought or leased from the enterprise. For example, FIG. 1 depicts a contact center customer 102 placing a telephone call to an enterprise contact center 104. This telephone call is handled by a call router 106, which may be a switchboard operator, or more likely, an automated call router that uses some type of keypad (using Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency—DTMF) or voice activated (using Interactive Voice Response—IVR) menu for directing the call to the appropriate department 108a-c or enterprise employee 110a-c. A major problem with such DTMF and IVR systems is that they are frustratingly time-consuming for the caller.
Another problem with the system shown in FIG. 1 is that the telephone calls are not secure, and therefore DTMF inputs (including those used to enter credit card information) may be easily overheard with a simple wiretap.